The Crucifer of Blood (1991)

A beautiful young woman asks Holmes to help her father, a former army captain and hopeless opium addict break free of the curse surrounding a stolen treasure.

Director:

Fraser Clarke Heston

Writers:

Arthur Conan Doyle (novel), Paul Giovanni (play),

Stars:

Charlton Heston, Richard Johnson, Susannah Harker

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Charlton Heston	...	Sherlock Holmes
Richard Johnson	...	Dr. Watson
Susannah Harker	...	Irene St. Claire
Edward Fox	...	Alistair Ross
John Castle	...	Neville St. Claire
Simon Callow	...	Inspector Lestrade
Clive Wood	...	Jonathan Small
James Coyle	...	Birdy Johnson
Kaleem Janjua	...	Durga Dass
Stefan Kalipha	...	Wali Dad
Lloyd McGuire	...	P.C. Hopkins
Kiran Shah	...	Tonga
Sidney Livingstone	...	Mordecai Smith
Roly Lamas	...	Leper

Storyline

Beautiful, young Irne St. Claire enlists Holmes' and Watson's help for her father, a former veteran of the Great Indian Mutiny, who has become a hopeless opium addict. His drug dependence is a direct result of guilt and fear arising from a blood pact of secrecy made during the siege of Agra in 1857 in which he was party to the theft of a maharajah's treasure, murder, and betrayal. When an avaricious co-conspirator dies under mysterious circumstances, St. Clair is certain that the curse will strike him next.

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Plot Keywords:

opium | treasure | curse | year 1857 | detective series | 

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Taglines:

This is one mystery that it NOT elementary, my dear Watson...

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 November 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

El crucifijo de sangre

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Agamemnon Films, British Lion Film Corporation, Lynch Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Heston played Holmes in the Los Angeles theatrical version of the play in preparation for the role.

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Quotes

Sherlock Holmes: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

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Connections

Version of The Sign of Four (1923)

User Reviews

Great Fun, But Assisted Living Is Afoot For Holmes And Watson

Crucifer Of Blood is an entertaining pairing of two fine but sadly aged actors, Charlton Heston and Richard Johnson, as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Both in their sixties at the time, they were far too old to be cast as the umpteenth incarnations of the energetic super-sleuth and his intrepid assistant. Nevertheless both bring the roles to life better than any younger actors of the time likely could have.

This high production values British picture, a loose adaptation of Conan Doyle's Sign Of The Four, is rather tongue-in-cheek in tone anyway. It's as florid and melodramatic as a silent movie with all the de rigueur Holmes artifacts ostentatiously displayed -- the deerstalker cap, the Victorian bulldog revolvers, the magnifying glass, the hansom cabs, and the great, billowing clouds of artificial fog. It's all jolly good fun if you're in the right mood and are not a picky Holmes purist. After a while, you don't mind that even the heavy ulster coat can't disguise Heston's curvature of the spine. Or that Johnson shows such frightful wrinkles in his closeup love scenes, it makes the object of his affections, 26-year old Susannah Harker, look like jail bait.

Yours truly is admittedly not much a fan of the Sherlock Holmes movies or literature, but my picky, old wife is. And she liked this one about as well as any. Crucifer Of Blood is expertly directed by Charleton's son, Fraser C. Heston, who also wrote and produced. A fast-paced, atmospherically filmed, spirited, witty, inventive, and enjoyable picture from beginning to end.